The general surnamed Liu was none other than Liu Yan. Although he managed to escape the calamity at the critical moment and managed to jump into the city gate in time to avoid most of the boulders, it was inevitable that he would be affected by some of them.
A boulder the size of two people's encirclement brushed past Liu Yan's right shoulder the moment he jumped down the city gate tower. Liu Yan staggered and lost his center of gravity. After landing on the ground, he was unable to stand and rolled seven or eight times, covering a distance of more than ten meters.
Liu Yan's right arm was temporarily crippled. When he managed to stand up, his right arm was hanging down.
However, fortune and misfortune came hand in hand. If it weren't for the impact of the boulder, Liu Yan wouldn't have rolled for more than ten meters. When he stood up, the east gate of Yuanju City was already full of boulders. Liu Yan might have been hit by them already.
Yang Rui's men and Cao Cao's men of Yuanju County were on completely different levels. Liu Yan might have escaped with his life, but he had lost most of his combat ability.
Under such circumstances, the defenders at the east gate of Yuanju City could no longer organize an effective defense. As the hundreds of heavy trebuchets continued to fire, the east gate of Yuanju City gradually collapsed.
The city wall connecting the two ends of the gate also collapsed along with it. In less than an hour, a huge hole had been blasted open in the direction of the east gate of the city. The guards on the city walls in the distance had already run away and hid, unable to pose any threat to Yang Rui's besieging soldiers near the east gate.
Gao Shun, Huang Zhong, Guan Hai, and Dian Wei led more than a hundred thousand elite Sixth and Seventh Grade infantrymen into Yuanju County. They were unstoppable and quickly took control of the main roads in Yuanju City.
Most of Cao Cao's men inside the city were forced into the inner city of Yuanju County. The soldiers on the city wall and further away from Cao Cao began to flee. Yang Rui's men didn't have to do anything anymore.
Apart from Gao Shun and the other three generals, as well as over a hundred thousand elite troops, Yang Rui's remaining troops were under the command of Cheng Yu and Guo Jia, arranged in the other three directions of Yuanju County.
However, from the very beginning, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia had already predicted the possible situation. Therefore, they didn't place the remaining Yang Rui soldiers too close to the city. Instead, they gave Cao Cao's troops a certain amount of space to escape.
The purpose of such an arrangement was, of course, to mislead Cao Cao's troops in Ju City into desperation. If they fought to the death, it would bring even greater losses to their own troops. At the same time, it was also the art of war, loosening the reins to grasp better. It was used to wear down the energy and morale of Cao Cao's troops.
Due to the huge difference in strength between the two sides, at the same time, the situation was extremely advantageous to Yang Rui's side. The following battle within Yuanju County didn't have much suspense.
Since he was prepared to take over Cao Cao's Yanzhou region for the long term, what Yang Rui paid attention to next was to thoroughly and meticulously clean up the Cao Cao's forces within Yuanju County.
After the battle of Yuanju County, after more than an hour of suppressive attacks, under the might of the heavy trebuchets and other siege weapons, the defending forces of the three prefectures could be said to have suffered heavy losses. In the end, the entire Yuanju County fell into the hands of Yang Rui.
Yuanju County originally had close to 60000 Cao Cao soldiers. After the battle inside and outside the county, close to half of them were lost. This didn't even include the defending troops that had fled through the other city gates.
The Mayor of Yuanju County, Liu Yan, similarly couldn't cause much of a stir in his hands. When the three prefectures' inner city was breached, Yang Rui personally entered the fray. Liu Yan only lasted for three to five rounds before he was captured.
In the early stages, Yang Rui had made a lot of arrangements. In the battle of Yuanju County, the Cao Cao garrison had lost a lot of troops. The defending general had also been captured. The Cao Cao soldiers that had fled in panic were effectively intercepted. They also didn't receive any reinforcements. Most of them were also wiped out or captured by Yang Rui's troops.
However, by the time the sky had turned dark, it was inevitable that some of the fish that had escaped the net would be able to escape. They were no longer a threat to Yang Rui's troops.
In the battle of Yuanju County, Yang Rui had killed a lot of enemies in and around the county. In total, he had obtained over 15000 skill books of various categories and grades. Among them, there were over 200 Sixth Grade skill books and over 60 Seventh Grade skill books.
It could be seen that after half a year of the six prefectures' Forbidden Army, a portion of Cao Cao's troops had become Sixth Grade and Seventh Grade existences. Moreover, the ratio had increased by quite a bit.
If Cao Cao's troops were like this, then the situation of the other vassals should be similar. Although this was within Yang Rui's expectations, when he saw it become a reality, Yang Rui once again received a warning.
Disregarding this point, Yang Rui's harvest in Yuanju County wasn't all that great. He had obtained some basic resources such as money and food. However, the amount of money was less than 20000 gold coins, and the amount of food was only enough for fifty to sixty thousand soldiers for a month.
Yang Rui didn't really care about such a large number of items. After taking Yuanju County and waiting for the Wuhuan Five Generals to advance halfway, Yang Rui reorganized his troops and left Yuanju County early the next morning.
The Wuhuan Five Generals — Nan Lou, Su Puyan, Wu Yan, Lou Ban, and Nengchen — had been stationed in Changyi City by Yang Rui. When Yang Rui set out from Dingtao, they had already sent horses to deliver the order, ordering the Wuhuan Five Generals to lead their troops and rush to Yuanju County day and night.
Only after Yang Rui left Yuanju County did Cao Cao receive some general information. He only knew that Yang Rui had already taken Yuanju County. However, he didn't know the specifics.
At the same time, Cao Cao also received news that Yang Rui had set Hulao Pass on fire. The loss of men, resources, and some buildings caused Cao Cao to be shocked. He almost couldn't believe his ears.
Hulao Pass was an important node that connected to his escape route. Cao Cao couldn't help but be shocked. Fortunately, the news that came back showed that Yang Rui had only set fire to Hulao Pass and didn't send any troops to take control of it.
Soon after, he received news that Yuanju County was under Yang Rui's control. While Cao Cao was furious, he also panicked.
Even though both sides had deployed troops and were already at daggers drawn, Cao Cao hadn't expected Yang Rui to act so quickly and decisively.
The situation at Hulao Pass, in particular, showed the extraordinary offensive power of Yang Rui's troops. This shocked Cao Cao even more.
"Order the scouts to continue investigating. Once there are any changes, report them immediately …"
At this moment, Cao Cao was somewhat hesitant. He knew that Chen Liu County wasn't a place where he could stay for long. Hence, he had extended his influence into Si Li Province.
Cao Cao vaguely felt that it was time to make a decision. However, it was difficult for him to give up on Chen Liu, which he had been managing for a long time.
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